


light a fire in my heart

by ladylikerat



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Firefighters, Bokuto Week 2020, Brief mentions of other characters - Freeform, Damsel in Distress Akaashi, Fire Captain Daichi, Firefighter Bokuto, First fic be gentle, I don't actually know anything about firefighting, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-14
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-07 04:14:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26467024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladylikerat/pseuds/ladylikerat
Summary: Bokuto is determined to play the hero. Akaashi just wants to get some sleep.
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou
Comments: 6
Kudos: 56
Collections: Bokuto Week 2020





	light a fire in my heart

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, this is my first ever fanfic! I hope you have as much fun reading it as I had writing :)
> 
> A submission for Bokuto Week 2020, Day 1: Firefighter AU.

This was it, his first call on the job after the academy and Bokuto was going to be the best fireman ever! At least that’s what he told himself as he suited up and hopped on the truck, practically vibrating with excitement as the vehicle pulled out of the station sirens blaring. It was the middle of the night and a call had come in for an apartment complex that had caught fire. Deep down Bokuto knew he shouldn’t be excited by the idea of people’s homes burning to the ground, but this was also his chance to show everyone what a hero he could be and that feeling was currently winning out over the worry for the actual people affected by the flames.

They arrived on scene and his fire captain Daichi immediately began barking out orders. The top floor of the building was engulfed by the inferno and smoke was pouring from a few of the windows on the levels below. Ushijima and Iwaizumi were sent to connect up the hose to the hydrant on the corner. Kuroo was manning the control panel inside the truck. Bokuto waited as patiently as he could for his orders.

“Bokuto, get these folks a safe distance away! See if they know of anyone missing who may still be inside!”

Well it wasn’t the most heroic of jobs, escorting those who had already escaped the blaze, but Bokuto was still determined to be the best god damn escort these people had ever had. Puffing up his chest he gestured wildly to the crowd that had assembled, his booming voice carrying over the sounds of the crackling flames. 

“Hey hey everyone! I’m gonna need you to all follow me across the street! This way! C’mon!”

The slightly frantic crowd seemed to calm down once given a bit of direction, huddling together and following the large man to the opposite sidewalk.

“Alright great job! Now look around at each other, any neighbors you know of not out here yet?”

The crowd milled about, checking in with each other. After a few minutes without any shouts, Bokuto thought maybe everyone had already made it out okay. The panicked energy of the crowd had calmed somewhat and he could see relief on quite a few of the faces as they chatted with their neighbors. 

A sudden cry broke the air, “Ah! Apartment 315, that quiet man with the sharp eyes… he must still be inside!” 

Bokuto found himself sprinting towards the flaming building before his mind had a chance to think things through. He shouted the apartment number to his captain as he flew past, Daichi shouting something back that Bokuto failed to register. Wrenching open the door with gloved hands, he made a beeline for the staircase, taking the steps two at a time as he flung himself up them. He didn’t realize until he was cresting the landing that he didn’t feel the heavy weight of his oxygen tank on his back. Daichi was definitely going to be pissed at him once he made it out of here.

It was hazy with smoke in the hallway but there were no visible flames, the fire not having reached this floor yet. Since fire had a tendency to burn upwards there was a chance it wouldn’t reach here, but that wasn’t a guarantee. His eyes scanned the apartment numbers as he jogged down the hallway, coming to a stop on the door labelled 315. Remembering his training he placed a hand on the door first and was relieved to find it wasn’t too hot to the touch. The fire hadn’t made it inside here yet either, there was still hope. 

“If you’re near the door, step away!” his voice boomed out, pausing for a few seconds to give the occupant time to comply before tucking his shoulder and ramming at the door with his full strength. There was a crunch from the wood but it didn’t give out immediately. Taking a few steps back he tried again, this time busting through and sending a shower of splinters across what had been a very meticulously clean living room. 

\---

From deep within the depths of his slumber, Akaashi’s subconscious dimly registered the loud crash coming from the direction of his living room. His brain made an effort to rouse him, signalling alarm at the noise, but his body refused to heed the call. That is until he suddenly felt his body being lifted away from the mattress, strong hands prying him from his blanket cocoon and cradling him against a broad and muscular chest.

Still only half awake at this point Akashi expressed his displeasure at the rude awakening with a flailing of limbs, his elbow connecting with something solid with a crack.

“Argh!” a man’s voice cried out in pain from the direction of where his elbow had made contact. “Hey hey hey, I’m trying to rescue you here, geez!”

Akaashi blearily opened his eyes at the sound of the voice, his senses continuing to blare alarm bells at him. The air was warm and thick, scratching at his throat as he inhaled. His eyes were watery and having difficulty focusing, more so than was normal upon awakening. There were literal alarm bells ringing high and shrill. Something was wrong. Very wrong.

The stranger whose body he was currently pressed to started to move toward the door. Was he being kidnapped? He started to struggle again in the stranger’s grasp at the thought before his brain reprocessed the words that had been said. 

Rescue?

Oh.

The limited visibility, the painfully warm air, the smoke detector screeching, the strange man breaking into his apartment and gathering him up in his arms… It all made sense now. Clearly there was a fire somewhere in his apartment building and this man was a firefighter attempting to save him from being burned alive in his sleep.

The more rational parts of his brain shut down at this thought, panic and fear taking over. He clung tightly to the man’s heavy jacket as his eyes went wide and his breathing went fast and shallow. It only got worse once his savior stepped into the hallway and with a sudden crack the ceiling several yards down the hall gave way and came crashing to the ground, covered in flames and bringing a sudden powerful gust of heat. Akaashi’s eyes widen at the sight of the flames steadily licking their way towards them, smoke billowing forth in large dark plumes.

Luckily for Akaashi, the man carrying him didn’t seem too phased by the danger of their current surroundings. 

“Hold on tight, I’ll get us out of here super quick! I was one of the top five fastest times for rescue drills at the academy y’know!”

With the vice grip Akaashi currently had on the man’s jacket, he felt the beginning of the statement was unnecessary, but he appreciated the sentiment all the same. He gave the barest of nods to acknowledge the man’s alleged accomplishments, eyes darting back and forth between the stairs and the inferno threatening to overtake them at any moment. Bokuto flashed a brilliant smile down at him, although Akaashi was a bit too distracted by everything going on to really register it.

Without any further warning, the firefighter began to run towards the stairs on the opposite end of the hallway from the flames, powerful legs propelling the pair down the corridor at a breakneck pace. Akaashi did his best to force his eyes to focus on the man’s face, hoping that if he looked anywhere aside from the burning building that he would be able to recollect his wits.

The first thing he was struck by was the man’s piercing gold eyes. 

The second thing he was struck by were the twin rivulets of blood streaming down the man’s face from his nose.

Remembering how his elbow had jabbed into something with a crunch earlier, Akaashi realized he was most definitely to blame for the current state of this man’s face. Lowering his eyes a little further he settled on staring instead at the very solid and well muscled chest he was currently pressed against. He continued to distract himself with this, as well as the feeling of the heavily sculpted arms holding him up, as the other man made short work of the three flights of stairs. 

They burst into the night air and the blessed coolness it brought, the fireman refusing to relinquish his hold on Akaashi until they found themselves swarmed by a pair of paramedics. Before he could muster a simple thank you to the man who had undoubtedly saved his life, Akaashi found himself being led away to an ambulance a short distance away.

\---

Bokuto took a moment to remove his helmet and gulp greedily at the refreshing night air, throat burning with the residual smoke. Glancing around the scene he could see Daichi had joined Ushijima and Iwaizumi on the hose, and they seemed to have things under control. It looked like Aone had taken over his job of shepherding the crowd. The fire was already significantly reduced from what it had been when they arrived.

Catching Kuroo’s eyes from where he sat in the cab of the truck Bokuto flashed him a double thumbs up and then pointed over to where Akaashi had been led away to the ambulance. Kuroo responded with a sly smile and an eyebrow wiggle. 

Satisfied that one of his teammates knew where he was, Bokuto made his way over to the ambulance. As he walked up he finally had a moment to look at the man he had pulled from the burning building. While he was a few inches shorter and quite a bit lighter than Bokuto, he was certainly not fragile looking. Black messy hair crowned his head, looking impossibly soft and spinning into wispy curls at the edges of his face. His eyes fell somewhere between grey and blue and when they rose to meet Bokuto’s, the stare they gave felt like it could pierce right through Bokuto’s soul. Gulping at the sight he willed his legs forward to close the gap between them as his stomach did a few backflips.

“Hey hey! How’re you feeling? I didn’t get to introduce myself yet ‘cause I was too busy rescuing you and all, but my name’s--”

“BOKUTO!” the furious yell tore across the parking lot. Bokuto winced at the sound of his name, tossing Akaashi an apologetic glance.

“Ah… Daichi…” Bokuto mumbled, glancing over at his enraged fire captain and turned back to Akaashi, a dejected look in his eyes, “I should.. probably go talk to him…”

“Akaashi. Akaashi Keiji,” the barest hint of a smile revealed itself in the form of an upward quirk of his lips, as Akaashi held out a hand to his rescuer. “It’s very nice to meet you Bokuto-san.”

Bokuto grabbed for the hand Akaashi extended, shaking it up and down with enough eagerness that it teetered on the edge of overwhelming. 

“Yeah it really is! Ah, I mean, it’s nice to meet you too. I’ve definitely already met myself...” Bokuto gave a nervous laugh and rubbed at the back of his neck. “I’ll be right back, so don’t go anywhere! Well unless the paramedic thinks you need to go to the hospital or something, then you should probably listen to him.”

Bokuto glanced over at his captain again, the other man staring daggers back at this point. Daichi was definitely about to tear him a new one. “I’ll be right back,” he murmured again, trotting off to take the tongue lashing that he knew awaited him.

\---

After receiving the well deserved verbal assault from his captain about proper safety measures and equipment, Bokuto trudged his way back over to the ambulance. At the sight of Akaashi leaning against the bumper with a blanket draped over his shoulders he managed to perk up a bit. The other man was fiddling with his fingers at Bokuto’s approach.

“Bokuto-san, I apologize for reacting to your rescue in such a violent manner. Please allow me to make it up to you in some way.”

Truth be told, Bokuto had completely forgotten about getting his nose smashed in. It was a little sore now that he was thinking about it again.

“Don’t worry about it ‘Kaashi, I know you didn’t mean it.”

A preposterous statement, this man didn’t know him at all. How was he to know Akaashi didn’t have some sort of violent streak? Akaashi sighed and tried again.

“Please Bokuto-san, I insist,” he paused for a moment, trying to determine what a suitable repayment for bashing someone’s nose in would be, “Perhaps let me purchase you a meal? It is the least I could do.”

Bokuto cocked his head to the side as he thought about it before a large grin slowly spread itself across his face. “Sure ‘Kaashi! I’m not sure what’ll be open at 3 in the morning, but I’m sure we could find something. It’s a date!”

Akaashi blinked in surprise at the statement. He hadn’t meant it to be a romantic outing of any kind. Not that he was particularly upset at the idea of taking out the wall of muscle standing before him, it was just an unexpected development.

“Ah, unless you didn’t mean right now? You’re probably pretty tired after almost dying and all. I could give you my phone number and we could figure it out once you’ve had some sleep. Yeah! That’s probably a better plan.” Bokuto nodded and started patting down his pockets in search of a pen. He had clearly mistaken Akaashi’s silent stare in response as related to the time and not the proclamation of it being a date. 

Finding a crumpled receipt and a sharpie buried in one of the many pockets on his person, Bokuto quickly scribbled down his number and held it out to Akaashi.

“Well it was great to meet you! Err, not that your apartment almost burning down was great, but I’m glad it did so I could save you! Wait, that still sounds terrible…” The more Bokuto rambled the more flustered he seemed to get.

Akaashi leaned forward and touched his arm lightly and Bokuto’s jaw snapped shut at the contact.

“I am very glad to have been rescued by you Bokuto-san. I look forward to our date.”

A warmth flickered to life in his chest and when Akaashi aimed another one of his subtle smiles in his direction it became a full-fledged blaze that threatened to consume him whole. He hoped if his body had a fire department that they wrote this flame off and let it burn.


End file.
